Seneca Nation voters elected Robert Odawi Porter as their president. Porter, raised on the Allegany Territory, was educated at Syracuse and Harvard universities and has spent his career as a distinguished law professor and expert in tribal law.
Enrolled Senecas voting today on the Allegany and Cattaraugus territories gave Porter 1,671 votes and his opponent, former president Maurice A. John Sr., 500.
Seneca presidents serve two-year terms in rotation from their two main territories, Allegany and Cattaraugus. Current President Barry E. Snyder Sr. is from Cattaraugus, so the next president is from Allegany. Porter will be sworn in Nov. 9 in the traditional Canvass Day Ceremony on the Cattaraugus Territory.
"We face lawsuits aimed at stopping our casino construction in Buffalo, Congress targeting Seneca mail-order businesses, New York State's efforts to tax our territory commerce and violate our treaty rights, and federal agencies trying to interfere with our internal self-governance," Porter said. "The Nation is experiencing multiple attacks on our very existence like we haven't seen in more than 200 years."